Hot pot wants meat sliced thinner than any electric deli slicer on this site will cut. The machines that do it cost thirty dollars, have no motor, and are built for one job: frozen blocks.
0.2 mm to 20 mm on a 7.9 in blade, a 1.5 mm stainless board and a spare blade in the box. Built for frozen blocks, which is what hot pot slicing actually is.
States in capitals that it is for frozen or semi-frozen meat ONLY and not for fresh. A third smaller than the 18 in machines. No published millimetre range.
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For shabu shabu, buy a manual frozen-meat slicer — the befen or the identical ZOAMEACY, whichever is cheaper when you look. Both publish a thickness range of 0.2 mm to 20 mm. The best electric slicer on this site bottoms out at 1 mm, which is five times thicker, and none of them are rated to cut a solid frozen block at all. This is one of the rare categories where the thirty-dollar tool is not the compromise, it is the right answer.
How thin is shabu shabu, actually
Shabu shabu means “swish swish” — the slice has to cook in the few seconds it spends being swirled through simmering broth. That means somewhere around 1 to 2 mm at the outside, and thinner is better. Sukiyaki runs slightly thicker; Korean BBQ brisket and bulgogi are in the same band.
Here is where each machine's dial actually starts:
Slicer
Thinnest published slice
Hot pot?
befen manual
0.2 mm
Yes, with room to spare
ZOAMEACY manual
0.2 mm
Yes, with room to spare
ZOMAT manual
Not published
Built for it, but no number
VEVOR 10 in / 12 in / 7.5 in
0 mm nominal
Dial starts at zero, but it is a deli slicer and not rated for a solid block
CUSIMAX 9 in / 8.7 in
1 mm
Borderline, and only on firm-not-frozen meat
BESWOOD 250
1 mm
Borderline, and BESWOOD makes no frozen claim at all
Why the answer is a hand crank
A deli slicer spins a blade against meat held on a moving carriage. For a paper-thin slice off a rock-solid block that is the wrong geometry: the blade skates, the block shifts, and the machine is being asked to do something its maker never claimed. Our frozen-meat slicer page documents that boundary in the makers' own words.
A manual frozen slicer is a completely different machine: a fixed blade and a screw that advances a frozen block by a set amount per stroke. It is closer to a mandoline than a deli slicer. Because the block is clamped and the blade is fixed, going thinner is just a smaller advance — which is why 0.2 mm is achievable on a tool that costs less than a decent knife.
The honest trade-offs: it is one stroke per slice, so this is a tool for a hot pot dinner rather than for processing volume, and it only works on properly frozen meat.
The five, side by side
Spec
befen
ZOAMEACY
ZOMAT
CUSIMAX 9 in
Drive
Hand
Hand
Hand
200W electric
Thickness range
0.2-20 mm
0.2-20 mm
Not published
1-20 mm
Blade
7.9 in + spare
7.9 in + spare
Stainless + spare
Two 9 in
Board thickness
1.5 mm stainless
1.5 mm stainless
Not published
n/a
Rated for solid frozen
Yes, by design
Yes, by design
Yes — frozen only
No
Size
18.1 x 6.3 x 4.7 in
18.1 x 6.3 x 4.7 in
12 x 6 x 5.5 in
14.3 x 9.9 x 11.8 in
Bags / holder included
10 bags + holder
10 bags + holder
Pusher
Tray
Power needed
None
None
None
Mains
Two of these are the same machine
Freezing the block is most of the job
Every maker in this class says the same thing, and befen says it twice: an improperly frozen block will not cut cleanly. The method:
Choose a cut that holds together — beef chuck eye, ribeye, pork belly, lamb leg. Trim it to fit the tray.
Wrap tightly and freeze until solid, which for a block this size means overnight rather than an hour.
Let it temper on the counter for a few minutes if it is so hard the blade skips. You want solid, not brittle.
Slice what you need and return the rest to the freezer before it softens.
This is the opposite of the advice for a deli slicer, where extension guidance is to slice meat “firm but not solid”. Different machine, different rule — and confusing the two is the usual reason people report that their hot pot slicer “does not work”.
If you want to do it with an electric slicer
It is possible to get close, and worth saying how rather than pretending otherwise. Use a machine whose dial starts at or near zero, temper the block to firm-but-not-solid, take light passes, and accept that you will land around 1-2 mm rather than paper-thin. The CUSIMAX 9 in is the best of ours for it, because its serrated blade bites a firm surface instead of skating.
What you get is closer to sukiyaki or Korean BBQ thickness than true shabu shabu, which is a perfectly good outcome if you already own the machine. If you are buying specifically for hot pot, buy the hand crank — it costs a fraction and does the job the electric cannot.
In detail
The picks, in full
1
befenNo image
Best for shabu shabu
befen Manual Frozen Meat Slicer
8.6 /10
0.2 mm to 20 mm on a 7.9 in blade, a 1.5 mm stainless board and a spare blade in the box. Built for frozen blocks, which is what hot pot slicing actually is.
#ad · Price as of Sep 24, 2026 · Affiliate disclosure for the link to ZOAMEACY Manual Frozen Meat Slicer for Hot Pot
3
ZOMATNo image
Smallest, most honest listing
ZOMAT Manual Frozen Meat Slicer
7.5 /10
States in capitals that it is for frozen or semi-frozen meat ONLY and not for fresh. A third smaller than the 18 in machines. No published millimetre range.
#ad · Price as of Sep 24, 2026 · Affiliate disclosure for the link to VEVOR 10-Inch Commercial Meat Slicer (240W)
How we picked
Units we claim to have bench-tested: none
Plenty of sites say they ground two hundred pounds through every grinder. We didn't, and we say so. What we do instead: read the maker's spec sheet, manual and warranty terms, record the figures that decide whether a machine keeps up with your season (size number, motor rating, rated pounds per minute, capacity, duty cycle, gearing), check parts availability, and score each pick on a published rubric. Then we show the season math — pounds per deer from the Ohio Division of Wildlife's yield study — so you can redo it with your own numbers.
A manual frozen-meat slicer. The befen and the identical ZOAMEACY both publish a 0.2 mm to 20 mm range, which no electric deli slicer on this site matches — the best of those starts at 1 mm. Buy whichever of the two is cheaper when you look.
How thin should meat be for hot pot?+
Around 1 to 2 mm at the outside, and thinner is better — the slice has to cook in the seconds it spends swirling through the broth. Sukiyaki and Korean BBQ cuts sit slightly thicker.
Can you use a regular deli slicer for shabu shabu?+
You can get close with a tempered block, light passes and a serrated blade, landing around 1-2 mm. You cannot get true paper-thin, and no deli slicer here is rated to cut a solid frozen block — which is exactly what hot pot slicing requires.
How frozen does the meat need to be?+
Solid, not merely firm — overnight for a block this size. This is the reverse of deli slicing, where the extension guidance is “firm but not solid.” If the block is so hard the blade skips, let it temper a few minutes on the counter.
What cut of meat is best for hot pot slicing?+
Something with enough fat to stay tender at a paper-thin cut and enough structure to hold together frozen: beef chuck eye or ribeye, pork belly, lamb leg. Very lean cuts shred rather than slice.
We haven't bench-tested this gear and we don't pretend to. Specs come from the maker's own pages, manuals and maker-supplied listing copy (labeled as such); food-safety figures from USDA and university extension publications; yield from the Ohio Division of Wildlife; prices live from Amazon. Where a figure isn't published, we say so. Read the full method.
